shine the light
A recent turn of events has left me, finally, with my head above water. In days and months past, I've been drowning. Whether it be in debt, schoolwork, taxes, drama, negativity...anything. All of those things didn't necessarily go away, but after an intense meltdown, like intense, I've decided to do the changing. I'm done letting life happen to me, and I'm done holding myself back from my potential.
Just as we talked about in class last night. Right now, I'm taking Shiatsu, the Japanese form of massage and healing. It's really amazing, and feels, oh, so good. And like traditional Chinese medicine, it revolves around this idea of yin and yang. Most of you will probably recognize the image below, but I bet not many of you recognize the symbolism and significance of the image. I won't go into too much detail, since I could spend weeks just on the characteristics of yin and yang, but I can give you small idea about what this represents.
The dark part of the circle represents yin, and the light side is the yang. Each have their own characteristics, and there is a little bit of each in all of us. They are not opposites, but complementary to each other. One cannot exist without the other. Where one comes to an end, the other is just barely beginning. There is no judgement attached to either. Neither is better than the other, and there are no negative connotations with either. Yin represents contracting energy, cold, cool, feminine, always working, quiet, timidity, the shady side of the hill. Yang represents expansive energy, hot, warm, masculine, working-then-resting, loud, extrovert, the sunny side of the hill. The organs of our body are classified as either yin or yang, depending on their functions and other properties.
Anyway, the idea is that there is constant transition between yin and yang. There is no stagnancy. Life is constantly in a state of contraction and expansion. And now I've made a short story long, and come to my point: My teacher described the two as thus: Yin is the potential. Yang is the manifestation of that potential. We enter a yin phase, and begin building potential. At the end of that phase, we experience the manifestation of that potential (or yang), and thereby the opportunity comes along for even greater potential. And the cycle repeats itself. I'm in school. Learning. Building my potential. I get a job when school ends as a massage therapist, and experience the manifestation of that potential. It starts again. You get the idea.
I haven't been choosing to be happy. By listing all the stressful, annoying, and obnoxious things that happen to me in a day, I kill my potential for happiness. I'm standing in my own way of experiencing joy ALL THE TIME. Joy and happiness don't have to be fleeting, sometimes, or fair weather friends. It's up to me to decide that those are the things I want to be experiencing every second. Of course, making the choice won't be easy. And it doesn't just happen. You have to do things. GOOD things. Like reading your scriptures, and saying your prayers, and going to church, and setting goals, and planning, and yes, it's hard. But it is so good. I have so much to offer the world, but it'll never get to see that if I'm hiding in my ugly hole, ready to throw in the towel.
I love this quote that a dear friend of mine sent to me recently:
"...and I realized, that the reason why good things were not happening to me as often as I wanted them to was because I in fact was a good thing that needed to happen. I needed to happen to me, to other people, and to the world. And so, I happened." - C. JoyBell
So let's be done. The world deserves our greatness. The world deserves our humor, our love, our laughter. The world deserves our light. So let it shine! Go out and happen to the world! And see where it takes you. I'm going to. Nobody's stopping me now.
yes. i did take these on my phone. at my desk. at work. i'm awesome that way.
Just as we talked about in class last night. Right now, I'm taking Shiatsu, the Japanese form of massage and healing. It's really amazing, and feels, oh, so good. And like traditional Chinese medicine, it revolves around this idea of yin and yang. Most of you will probably recognize the image below, but I bet not many of you recognize the symbolism and significance of the image. I won't go into too much detail, since I could spend weeks just on the characteristics of yin and yang, but I can give you small idea about what this represents.
Anyway, the idea is that there is constant transition between yin and yang. There is no stagnancy. Life is constantly in a state of contraction and expansion. And now I've made a short story long, and come to my point: My teacher described the two as thus: Yin is the potential. Yang is the manifestation of that potential. We enter a yin phase, and begin building potential. At the end of that phase, we experience the manifestation of that potential (or yang), and thereby the opportunity comes along for even greater potential. And the cycle repeats itself. I'm in school. Learning. Building my potential. I get a job when school ends as a massage therapist, and experience the manifestation of that potential. It starts again. You get the idea.
I haven't been choosing to be happy. By listing all the stressful, annoying, and obnoxious things that happen to me in a day, I kill my potential for happiness. I'm standing in my own way of experiencing joy ALL THE TIME. Joy and happiness don't have to be fleeting, sometimes, or fair weather friends. It's up to me to decide that those are the things I want to be experiencing every second. Of course, making the choice won't be easy. And it doesn't just happen. You have to do things. GOOD things. Like reading your scriptures, and saying your prayers, and going to church, and setting goals, and planning, and yes, it's hard. But it is so good. I have so much to offer the world, but it'll never get to see that if I'm hiding in my ugly hole, ready to throw in the towel.
I love this quote that a dear friend of mine sent to me recently:
"...and I realized, that the reason why good things were not happening to me as often as I wanted them to was because I in fact was a good thing that needed to happen. I needed to happen to me, to other people, and to the world. And so, I happened." - C. JoyBell
So let's be done. The world deserves our greatness. The world deserves our humor, our love, our laughter. The world deserves our light. So let it shine! Go out and happen to the world! And see where it takes you. I'm going to. Nobody's stopping me now.
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